Koloa, Kaua'i, Hawaii

Wind Horse

Who knows the island of Kauai so well? Is it Kauai resident
or visitor of Kauai?

After part-time residents of Kauai, Khenpo and Ariel took me
to the beautiful stupa here on Kauai, I thought the one who knows Kauai the best is a part-time resident of Kauai....This is just like a teaching of Buddha….Middle way is the best
way. The part-time resident can be both visitor and resident.

I think you would agree with me if you think of good
guidebooks. The guidebook of sightseeing or tourism are
usually written by tourists, not residents of the place. Because residents know too much about the place and people, and as a result, they are not interested in these things as a part of
life. On the other hand, because tourists don’t know much about the place and people, they can be interested in whatever they don’t know before. That is why
tourists can write good guidebooks.

But tourists have problems. In order for them to know more of
the place, they need to stay longer. So the best one is the visitor who has a place to live, called part-time resident.

Anyway I was able to visit the stupa for my first time, thanks to dear friends.

According to Khenpo, these colorful flags are called, Lung-ta, meaning "Wind Horse" to keep out evil spirits and at the same time it's a symbol of Dharma spreading over
the world. Interestingly, there are five colors, representing five elements of universe.

Blue =Space

White= Wind

Red=Fire

Green=Water

Yellow=Earth

These flags are called, "Darchor" and I learned red flag is Amida (Amitabha) Buddha which reminded me the five Tathagata flags in Japan.

For a long time, I didn't know the meaning of these five colors flags but now I know they are related to Lung-ta and Darchor. I also knew if flags are blown by the wind, it has the same merit of
chanting sutra!